A bipod is an essential asset to many shooters. It provides them with a solid platform for making accurate shots from a prone shooting position. To this end, in most cases, a shooter will configure his or her bipod for their particular prone shooting position. This will typically include setting legs of the bipod to a length corresponding to their prone shooting position.
A drawback of conventional bipods is that they do not readily accommodate panning (i.e., rotating by pivoting about an axis extending vertically perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the barrel) of a firearm (i.e., a weapon) mounted on the bipod without repositioning one or both of the bipod leg feet (i.e., feet at the terminal end of each leg of the bipod). For example, with the bipod leg feet engaged with a support structure, a shooter will often have the need to pan the firearm about an axis extending vertically perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the barrel. With conventional bipods, the shooter will need to disengage at least one bipod leg foot for allowing the bipod and, thus the firearm, to be rotated side-to-side, this is generally undesirable as it can be a cumbersome and low-resolution approach to pan the firearm such as for following or acquiring a target.
Another drawback of conventional bipods is that they do not readily accommodate uneven surfaces upon which the legs of the bipod might come to rest when a shooter sets up in their prone shooting position. For example, with the bipod legs having been pre-set by the shooter for a level shooting surface, the shooter will find that their firearm is not in a preferred shooting position when one leg of the bipod comes to rest on an obstruction such as a rock or within a depression. In many situations (e.g., a hostile environment), it is not practical or possible for the shooter to re-position the bipod or reconfigure the bipod (e.g., adjust leg length) so as to achieve a bipod orientation that puts their firearm in a preferred shooting position. Moreover, doing so requires the shooter to break from eye focus on a target through an optical scope and then reacquire sight on the target after repositioning the bipod legs.
Therefore, a bipod configured in a manner that overcomes drawbacks associated with conventional bipods would be advantageous, desirable and useful.